western hemlock
Tsuga heterophylla · Pinaceae
western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) is a perennial tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 4 and warmer, down to about -23°F.
At a glance
| Type | tree USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | perennial USDA |
| Native status | native USDA |
| Mature height | 170 ft USDA |
| Light | shade USDA |
| Water need | medium USDA |
| Growth rate | slow USDA |
| Soil pH | 4.5–6 USDA |
| Bloom | April–May USDA |
| Hardiness zones | 4 and warmer USDA |
| Guild layer | canopy Derived |
| Nursery availability | Routinely Available USDA |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It tolerates full shade. USDA rates it as having moderate water needs. It is recorded on soils from pH 4.5 to 6 — acidic ground. Its cold limit is zone 4; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.
Size and growth
At maturity it reaches about 170 ft, making it a large tree that will dominate its site. It grows slowly, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.
Bloom period
USDA records a bloom period of April through May. Bloom timing is how the Guild Builder overlaps flowering across a planting so something is in flower for as much of the season as possible.
Bloom period is a claim about when this plant flowers. It is deliberately not a pollinator rating — no dataset we trust publishes one, so we do not make that claim. See Data & sources.
Role in a guild
Canopy. In a layered planting this is the tallest layer of a planting — it sets the light budget everything beneath it lives on. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.
Tags
Related plants
Others in Tsuga
- eastern hemlock Tsuga canadensis
- Carolina hemlock Tsuga caroliniana
- mountain hemlock Tsuga mertensiana
Similar role and hardiness
- Fraser fir Abies fraseri
- white alder Alnus rhombifolia
- red alder Alnus rubra
- incense cedar Calocedrus decurrens
- pecan Carya illinoinensis
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol TSHE, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
bloom_end— quoted from USDA PLANTSbloom_start— quoted from USDA PLANTScommercial_availability— quoted from USDA PLANTSduration— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_habit— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_rate— quoted from USDA PLANTSguild_role— derived by rule from USDA columnsmature_height_ft— quoted from USDA PLANTSmoisture— quoted from USDA PLANTSnative_status— quoted from USDA PLANTSnitrogen_fixer— quoted from USDA PLANTSpet_safe— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_max— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_min— quoted from USDA PLANTSshade_tolerance— quoted from USDA PLANTStemperature_min_f— quoted from USDA PLANTSzone_min— quoted from USDA PLANTS
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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